#emilymuaddib

[oldshrewsburyian]

@emilymuaddib replied to this post about “A Field In England”:

ok I watched this a couple years ago and 100% did NOT understand it, can anyone explain it? I just didn't get it at allllll

I am far from sure that I can explain this film within the meaning of the act. However! I am 100% sure that I cannot attempt to do so within the character limit of the reply. So, here’s the thing. I loved this film partly because it is inexplicable; and I loved it also as a person who knows things [to the degree of ‘has taken relevant graduate-level coursework’] about early modern astrology, alchemy, and politics, and how these were interconnected in 17th-century England. Oh, also venereal disease and medical theory ditto.

Our hapless and poignantly hilarious protagonist is an alchemist and astrologer. He also may or may not have the power to speak with and conjure the dead. He is certainly employed by at least one political faction and possibly also a wizard on the presumption that he does. He’s referred to as a homunculus by one man, and then tortured by another in attempts to actually turn him into one (yikes.) He has visions of a malignant planet, which may govern his fortunes or the fortunes of the men he’s with or the fortunes of England itself (not implausible.) Crucially, the film takes place in a time of apocalyptic dread, when not only the end of the (divinely-ordained) political order but the end of time itself was a distinct possibility.

Other weird and interesting references:

An Aztec scrying mirror (and thus European colonialism in the Americas)

Hugh O’Neill (? and thus English colonialism in Ireland)

“a pot of ale and safety” (Henry V my beloved, and thus Shakespeare and the always-already contested idea of England as a place of peace)

Religion and the Decline of Magic (tl;dr: it’s complicated)

My personal theory is that the field itself is both inspiring men to death and resurrecting them, possibly; why else would the provocatively-named Friend rise “more times than fucking Lazarus”? The land itself is definitely magic, and I tend to read the early emphasis on cannon and shot vs. the later visual focus on grass, soil, and mushrooms as a commentary on early modern industrialization.

In conclusion, I have no idea what it’s like to watch movies as a normal person, I loved this movie, I miss living in a city with an arthouse cinema, the end.

#a field in england #asks and answers #(sort of) #emilymuaddib #folk horror #any other theories?? #i felt a bit bad for laughing at the medical diagnosis scene #but also #i absolutely lost it

[crimson-chains]

Now that red is dead, how many cremates are still alive on the ship? I'm losing count whoops!

There are 4 total including Green! :D

#asks #emilymuaddib

[cassiopeiasara]

7.3k and I’m drowning in tenderness. Also bless @emilymuaddib for writing coffeeshop dates. 

#writeblogging #SO MUCH MOVEMENT on this story friends #I'm PUMPED #brotp: coffeeshop fic writing dates

[oldshrewsburyian]

It’s another dragging Thursday afternoon, and I belatedly realized that @emilymuaddib replied to this post with:

UGH how are you staying motivated, i am having the hardest time with that. Some of my students are just so checked out and dgaf.

Well. I’m going to say something that may sound either flippant or callous; it isn’t the former, and I hope it isn’t the latter. Here it is: staying motivated is overrated. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how “motivated” I am on a random Wednesday, as long as I am prepared to lead discussion in the upper-level course in the morning and discourse coherently in the introductory survey in the afternoon. I don’t need to be “motivated” to edit a colleague’s essay, send emails, do grading, etc. etc., as long as it gets done. (And yeah, a lot of my students are checked out as well.)

Honestly, I find it hardest to do unmotivated work on my own writing. Which is... a problem. But if I really force myself to sit down and work solidly for a couple of pages’ worth of editing, or half an hour, or whichever comes first, I usually find that I can work myself into a state of satisfaction, and even eagerness (motivation) to continue. That’s my two cents; I hope it’s helpful.

#asks and answers #adventures in academia #also about me #emilymuaddib

[oldshrewsburyian]

Hello, American follower here who normally would travel for thanksgiving and is not this year. Not totally alone, but not surrounded by many people as I usually would be. Any fiction (especially fantasy/sci fi if you read that!) you've read recently that you'd recommend?

Hello! I hope you have a nice day, despite the oddness of this year.

Recent fantasy I’ve read, and would recommend: Unseen Academicals. That Terry Pratchett is a delight and a genius is news to no one, of course. But this takes on everything from football fan culture to university administration to German philosophy and it is hilarious.

Recent magical realism: P. Djèlí Clark, Ring Shout. This is brief but brilliant, a narrative about monster-hunters with a historical setting in post-WWI Georgia... and the monsters they’re hunting are part of the KKK, summoned by “The Birth of a Nation.” Clark is a trained historian, and does a really lovely job of evoking the cultures of the women at the heart of the story.

#asks and answers #book recommendations #terry pratchett #p. djèlí clark #ring shout #unseen academicals #emilymuaddib